


the rise and fall of the dinosaur

by anakatieskywalker



Series: A Stranger World [8]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Barbara Gordon is Oracle, F/M, Gen, Minor Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown goes to college, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, but I don't explicitly say it, do with that what you will, look they act a little like they're in a relationship, no editing we die like robins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakatieskywalker/pseuds/anakatieskywalker
Summary: Steph's computer for school is an ancient beast revived from the dead by the one and only Tim Drake. He's Frankenstein, and this is his monster. Now, if he and everyone else could just stop trying to use their infinite amounts of wealth on Steph, everything would be peachy keen.AKA Steph's computer is dying and Tim has to try and convince her to accept a new one.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake
Series: A Stranger World [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/882144
Comments: 8
Kudos: 87





	the rise and fall of the dinosaur

The dinosaur was the computer that Steph had barely scraped enough money together to buy used, and then delivered into Tim’s hands, in hopes that she could have a computer that at least vaguely worked when she started her first semester at Gotham University. Tim delivered, the dinosaur was up and running, for the time being. 

And yeah, the casing might be three-quarters duct tape and cut up tupperware containers that Alfred was going to throw out, and the whole thing wreaked of not having any money, but Steph could take anyone who thought they could make fun of her computer, and she was not a mooch.

You can write that down, Stephanie Brown does not accept charity…  _ willingly _ . She’s fought tooth and nail to keep Bruce and his posse of children with exorbitant bank accounts away from her college experience. Of course, there have been moments. Bruce has temporarily won the battle to pay for her education, but that’s because with all the vigilante-ing and world saving in between term papers, she can’t afford to get a job and pay loans.

Then, of course, there are the times where she gets injured, and Alfred helps her out by stocking her fridge, or resupplying her first aid kit. He placates her by insisting that he do it to avoid suspicion, and that she needs to eat better than the average college student because of her extracurricular activities. 

She soothes her pride with the knowledge that the man still does Dick’s laundry most of the time, and he’s practically a decade older than her. Mother henning is just in Alfred’s nature, and at this point, she knows that even if she argues, he’s going to win. 

So, maybe she had a tendency to accept a  _ little bit _ of help, but going to college and being a vigilante, and living on your own is hard. There’s only so many hours in a day, and so many different ways you can ask for an extension on an assignment without spilling the beans that, look, it’s not her fault she didn’t finish doing the assigned problems. Batman had her on a stakeout and then a building blew up, this is Gotham, what do you want from her? 

How is she supposed to go to class, write papers and do her homework, get enough sleep so that she’s not useless in the field, go on patrol for hours on end, and still have time to go grocery shopping so that she can cook dinner?

Speaking of the ridiculous trials and tribulations of college, she’s sitting in the library that was probably paid for with Bruce’s money, and trying to refrain from beating her head against the oak wood table. Alfred wouldn’t like it if she gave herself a concussion several hours before patrol even starts. 

It’s just that, she’s managed to keep the dinosaur going for three years now. Three, incredibly long, years. And now the beast has decided that getting her through a chunk of her education and numerous Bat related cases was good enough. She can barely get it to connect to the internet, and saving anything to the desktop takes ten thousand years that she doesn’t have time for. 

She’s about to give up, toss the monster in the closest garbage can, and resort to using one of the desktop computers in the library. Of course, that would mean adding begging for forgiveness from Babs to her to-do list, because she was supposed to take a second look at some case files and finish her report from the dockside explosion that actually  _ did _ happen the night prior.

Then, like an angel from above, or a Bat from hell if you’re interested in puns, Timothy Jackson Drake slides into the seat across from her. She’s both incredibly thrilled to see him (because he might be able to keep the dinosaur alive like some sort of Frankenstein to his monster), and filled with dread (because what could bring the youngest CEO in the city to the public Gotham U library? She’s suspicious already).

Her brow furrows as she stares at him trying to look like he belongs there. Which, Tim? In a library? Sure, she could see it. But the guy’s in a suit and it’s two in the afternoon, Steph herself is wearing leggings and a sweatshirt. He sticks out like a sore thumb. 

Steph risks a glance around to make sure that none of the school’s business majors are going to wet themselves from the excitement of seeing Tim there, and she registers a security camera pointed in their direction that definitely hadn’t been angled like that when she sat down a few hours ago.

_ Dammit, Barbara. _

She leans forward and hisses at him, “What are you doing here?”

Tim, lovable idiot that he is, has the audacity to act surprised at her attitude. “What? I can’t come visit you at school and see how things are going?”

The look she gave him could be described as nothing more than deadpan. She hopes Barbara at least gets a kick out of snooping on her life in the daylight hours.

“It’s the middle of the work day, and you look like you belong in a board meeting, not studying for midterms like the rest of the hungover and sleep-deprived twenty-somethings in here.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s because I technically do belong in a board meeting.” Tim shrugs like it’s no big deal, and Steph does her best to think about all the trouble actually throttling him would cause, both in her nightlife and the business world. 

It works, it’s a close thing, but they’ll both live to tell the tale.

“Tim!” She’s back to hissing.

“Relax, they can’t start without me. They need to sweat this deal a little bit anyway.”

Steph drops her head into her hands. “Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better.” she mumbles. 

“Anyway, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Oh yeah? I’m not dressed for the board room, Timmy. I’m not going in your stead.” She snarks, but she’s moved past her distress at how nonchalant he can be about missing work at WE.

“Yeah, just take the laptop.”

Shock registers in her system, and she looks up. Tim’s got a box sitting on the table, it definitely wasn’t sitting there a few minutes ago, and it’s a really expensive looking box.

“No.”

“C’mon, Steph. We both know that computer’s going to die at the most inconvenient time, most likely right after you die on this hill, and I can’t do much more to it than I already have.” 

Tim’s already exasperated with this conversation, but he keeps his voice down. They are in a library, after all, and Barbara’s librarian tendencies have rubbed off on most of the clan.

“I’m perfectly fine with what I’ve got, thank you very much.”

“Babs says the dinosaur’s not secure enough to keep working on.” He says it matter-of-factly, and Steph can feel her blood boiling.

She whips her head back towards the camera that’s pointed at them. “Traitor.” The light blinks in response, they’ll discuss going behind her back and working with Tim later. The Batgirls are supposed to present a united front to all of the others. 

“Did Bruce put you two up to this? Bruce definitely put you up to this.” The man was always trying to pay for something. Really, Steph thought people with ridiculously large amounts of money were supposed to try harder to keep it that way.

“No, Bruce didn’t put me up to this,” Tim sighed so hard, Steph was pretty sure he was going to pull something. “I’m rich in my own right, remember? I can buy you a laptop of my own accord because I feel like you deserve it.”

“You just had to bring your feelings into it.”

“You brought Bruce into it! I’ve already taken the time to buy the laptop and run it by the clocktower so that Babs could beef up the security on it-”

“I thought you could beef up security on these things?” She’s being petulant, she knows, but Steph can’t help herself.

“-I can, but Barbara’s already got a whole set up and you two work together more often. Will you take the laptop now?” 

She knows Tim has her cornered now, she can’t waste both his and Barbara’s time. “Fine, I’ll take the computer. You could have just said you wanted to hang out more, you know? I don’t like being bribed.”

Tim rolls his eyes, but it’s in a fond way, so she knows she’s still in the clear. 

“Sure you don’t.”

Steph makes a face at him, and he snorts in a way that is entirely unbecoming of a businessman, but so perfectly Tim. 

“Thank you.” Her words are so quiet they could go unheard if you were standing two feet behind the boy she’s inexplicably bonded with at this point in their lives.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I’m not going to say it again, besides, don’t you have a company to run? Go do that instead of publicly harassing me, I’m trying to work here. Gosh, Timothy.”

He raises his hands in mock surrender, “Alright, message received. See you later?” Tim gets up from the table and Steph runs her hands over her face.

“Yeah, see you later. Stupid rich people.” She grumbles the last part, and is then caught by surprise when Tim appears beside her and places a kiss on the top of her head.

“I know, right? Always butting in.” She swats at him, a half-assed gesture. 

“Go, before your board members pee their pants from stress, you dweeb.”

Tim shoots her one last smirk, “Takes one to know one.” and finally turns his back to her and walks away.

She watches his form until it disappears around the corner, heading towards the front doors of the library. Then, she drops her head to the desk with a bang and groans.

Beside her, her phone goes off with suspiciously great timing. Steph looks up, and turns towards the camera, which waits until she’s laid eyes on it to return to its normal position. She grabs her phone, and resists the urge to curse. It’s a text from Babs:

‘Case files are in the anatomy folder, as usual. Get to work, Batgirl ; )’

Steph lets out a stream of curses under her breath and pulls the new laptop box towards her. She still has a ton of homework to do, and case files to fill out. There’s no time for the self-pitying vigilante act, Batgirl’s got work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> This plot bubble popped into my head yesterday morning and then wouldn't leave. Steph in college is my weakness, okay?
> 
> Please enjoy, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!


End file.
